Word has just came to me of the passing of an old friend and inspiration: Bill Landis, writer and film connoisseur. If one article can be said to have changed my life, it was his "From Tack to Gore: A History of the Exploitation Film" in the old New York Rocker magazine. At the time, he was publishing Sleazoid Express, a manual-typed newsletter which would inspire a generation of Zine publishers ( I still have some back issues). I'd been a film buff for years, but Bill's article opened up a whole new world of films to many of us. Within the first few months of reading it, I was checking out the local Drive-Ins for lost classics. Within two years I would found the print version of this blog after starting a film society. I was privledged to bring Bill to Ohio for a lecture and got to know him via letter and phone.
Sometime in the mid-90's Bill vanished into the netherworld of 42nd Street cinema and it was difficult to get back in touch with him. He managed to author a biography on filmmaker Kenneth Anger in the 90's and get a book of his film criticism published in 2002.
Memory Eternal, Bill. I may have been critical of you and your research sources over the past few years, but your place in film history is secure.
In honor of Bill I've posted a picture of The Deuce in it's glory days. It was his favourite haunt.
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